But as the Sydney property market whirs back to life in 2013, Robinson is just one of the many prestige agents at the coalface to see evidence that the tide is turning.

Properties that had been on the market for a long time started to sell in October and November. “There’s a change in the air in terms of confidence levels and it looks like it will continue,” he says.

The offers on property have already started coming in in 2013, he says, as well as the listings of “trophy homes” such as the Susan Rothwell-designed six-bedroom house with ocean views on Sunrise Hill in last week’s Title Deeds. There are hopes of more than $14 million.

The highest price nationally in 2012 was for a Palm Beach beachfront for $22 million. The buyer was car dealer Laurie Sutton, who’d sold his Mosman waterfront for $20 million (the second-highest sale) to a Chinese buyer.

Robinson’s boss, David Edwards, and Christie’s agent Ken Jacobs, stitched up the deal on the Palm Beach trophy.

Jacobs, too, can sense a prestige turnaround. “I can feel in my bones that things are about to improve,” he says, having just relaunched the campaign for recruitment queen Julia Ross’s Point Piper home this week in a co-listing with L J Hooker Double Bay’s Bill Malouf, with hopes of more than $40 million.

Jacobs believes the growing number of offshore buyers will be just one factor in the prestige market’s re-emergence in 2013.

“We’re seeing a lot more just general inquiry, but more specifically a lot more offshore inquiry,” he says.

“We’ve had some sales come together – even between Christmas and new year – exchange of contracts, with offshore buyers.”

In the east, GoodyerDonnelley’s Alexander Phillips detects “a lot more urgency” in the prestige marketplace.

One of his February auction properties has already gone: a five-bedroom house with a pool on 391 square metres on Bronte Road, Bronte, sold last Friday night for $2.84 million, almost half a million dollars more than the vendors paid in 2005 (though they have done minor renovations and put in a heated pool).

“It was only on the market for six days and we had 25 groups through [the previous] Saturday,” Phillips says.

BresicWhitney principal Ivan Bresic, who bemoaned the struggle to sell property priced more than $2 million in late 2012, is seeing signs of improvement, with a $2.25 million sale in a four-bedroom renovated house in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, on January 18. “We couldn’t sell that in October or November, but we found the buyer for that this year,” Bresic says.

Ray White Double Bay agent Craig Pontey says “at the $25 million-plus – the really pointy end – there are a number of people, local people, looking to buy”.

However, he believes a true lift in public sentiment won’t come “until we see a change of government or something to stimulate the market”.

Some distressed sales could also be in the wind, he believes. “We saw a lot of those under the cloak of darkness towards the end of 2012 . . . people’s businesses out there aren’t supporting their borrowing,” Pontey says.

McGrath chief executive John McGrath believes the top end is set to bounce back – certainly in the latter half of the year.

“2013 will see the return of the middle and upper ends of the market, in my opinion,” McGrath says.

“The top end came back by 20 [per cent] to 30 per cent during the global financial crisis. Some top-end sellers were forced to find buyers quickly as their financial situation worsened.

“Many senior executives in banking and finance lost their annual bonuses, which were often the catalyst to make the next step up the property ladder.”

In Mosman, L J Hooker agent Geoff Smith is optimistic about the year. “I don’t think prices are going to start soaring, but I think there will be more turnover this year,” he says.

Smith is basing this on an increase in prestige sales at the end of 2012.

“Also sentiment,” he says. “Buyers are certainly of the opinion that the market has bottomed, and they’re prepared to move forward as long as it’s the right house and it’s realistically priced.”

Smith says he doesn’t have a huge amount of new listings yet, though the ones he has are “priced right”, including a three-level house with pool and Chinamans Beach views at 9 Warringah Road, Mosman (see right), set for February 28 auction with hopes of more than $6 million.

And in the inner west, a director of Cobden and Hayson, Danny Cobden, says a higher level of confidence in the second half of 2012 resulted in a “reasonable volume of sales in that premium sector . . . a couple in the $2 million zone”.

McGrath Balmain’s Mark Bovis sold a Louisa Road, Birchgrove, house for more than $5.5 million in November. He had four groups fighting over it, one offshore. “I think if we were selling that a year ago we would have struggled to get more than $5 million,” Bovis says.

The senior economist at the Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors, Dr Andrew Wilson, is also enthusiastic about the prestige market’s prospects – particularly areas such as the northern beaches. “With the price drops, they’re recognising this is a good time to buy,” Wilson says.

The head of research at RP Data, Tim Lawless, says that values across Sydney’s most expensive suburbs are still about 8.5 per cent lower than when they peaked. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the more expensive end of the market that shows the largest capital gains [over the coming year],” Lawless says.

The sharemarket – up more than 16 per cent in six months – is one key indicator. “The improved wealth position should go a long way towards improving home buyer confidence, not to mention, of course, the better financial position that a higher share portfolio value brings,” Lawless says.

L J Hooker’s deputy chairman, L. Janusz Hooker, also sees this as important. “Properties in the $2 million to $5 million market have been moving comfortably since November,” he says.

“In some suburbs, prices have come back 20 per cent from three years ago but it has been accepted and buyers are now making a commitment.”

John McGrath says the major sharemarket indexes are starting to suggest the professional markets see a recovery under way. “And once the green light appears, which I anticipate will be as we hit 5000 on the Australian Stock Exchange, the money will start to pour back into property,” he says.

“Most buyers took the opportunity over the last few nervous years to de-leverage or pay down their loan balance, so many are in good shape when it comes to debt.”

McGrath anticipates prestige price rises by the end of the year. “We have already seen an increase in buyer inquiry between $2 million and $5 million in the last quarter,” he says.

The chairman of Ray White Real Estate, Brian White, says the best suburbs for growth will be “those that have been marked down in recent times”.

“The eastern suburbs in particular will be strong, with Woollahra a good example,” White adds.

AMP’s chief economist, Shane Oliver, agrees that the strong sharemarket gains are a sign that a recovery is on the way. “The prestige property market in Sydney is likely to pick up this year, but it will probably lag the improvement at the lower end of the market and an upswing may not become really evident [until] later in the year or 2014.” The epicentre of the prestige property market disaster that hit Australia in the wake of the global financial crisis was ?Sydney’s playground of the rich and famous, Palm Beach.

“It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride since 2007, with a drop in the first instance, a plateau, and then another drop,” ?L J Hooker Palm Beach agent Peter Robinson says.

The crisis of confidence meant that luxuries such as holiday homes were seen as an expensive extravagance, and prices of some homes have dropped 35 per cent.

But as the Sydney property market whirs back to life in 2013, ? Robinson is just one of the many prestige agents at the coalface to see evidence that the tide is turning.

Properties that had been on the market for a long time started to sell in October and November. “There’s a change in the air in terms of confidence levels and it looks like it will continue,” he says.

The offers on property have already started coming in in 2013, he says, as well as the listings of ? “trophy homes” such as the Susan Rothwell-designed six-bedroom house with ocean views on Sunrise Hill in last week’s Title Deeds. There are hopes of more than $14 million.

The highest price nationally in 2012 was for a Palm Beach beachfront for $22 million. The buyer was car dealer Laurie Sutton, who’d sold his Mosman waterfront for $20 million (the second-highest sale) to a Chinese buyer.

Robinson’s boss, David Edwards, and ? Christie’s agent Ken Jacobs, stitched up the deal on the Palm Beach trophy.

Jacobs, too, can sense a prestige turnaround. “I can feel in my bones that things are about to improve,” he says, having just relaunched the campaign for recruitment queen Julia Ross’s Point Piper home this week in a co-listing with L J Hooker Double Bay’s Bill Malouf, with hopes of more than $40 million.

Jacobs believes the growing number of offshore buyers will be just one factor in the prestige market’s re-emergence in 2013.

“We’re seeing a lot more just general inquiry, but more specifically a lot more offshore inquiry,” he says.

“We’ve had some sales come together – even between Christmas and new year – exchange of contracts, with offshore buyers.”

In the east, ?GoodyerDonnelley’s Alexander Phillips detects “a lot more urgency” in the prestige marketplace.

One of his February auction properties has already gone: a five-bedroom house with a pool on 391 square metres? on Bronte Road, Bronte, sold last Friday night for $2.84 million, almost half a million dollars more than the vendors paid in 2005 (though they have done minor renovations and put in a heated pool).

“It was only on the market for six days and we had 25 groups through [the previous] Saturday,” Phillips says.

BresicWhitney principal Ivan Bresic, who bemoaned the struggle to sell property priced more than $2 million in late 2012, is seeing signs of improvement, with a $2.25 million sale in a four-bedroom renovated house in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, on January 18. “We couldn’t sell that in October or November, but we found the buyer for that this year,” Bresic says.

Ray White Double Bay agent Craig Pontey says “at the $25 million-plus – the really pointy end – there are a number of people, local people, looking to buy”.

However, he believes a true lift in public sentiment won’t come “until we see a change of government or something to stimulate the market”.

Some distressed sales could also be in the wind, he believes. “We saw a lot of those under the cloak of darkness towards the end of 2012 . . . people’s businesses out there aren’t supporting their borrowing,” Pontey says.

McGrath chief executive John McGrath believes the top end is set to bounce back – certainly in the latter half of the year.

“2013 will see the return of the middle and upper ends of the market, in my opinion,” ?McGrath says.

“The top end came back by 20 [per cent] to 30 per cent during the global financial crisis. ? Some top-end sellers were forced to find buyers quickly as their financial situation worsened.

“Many senior executives in banking and finance lost their annual bonuses, which were often the catalyst to make the next step up the property ladder.”

In Mosman, L J Hooker agent Geoff Smith is optimistic about the year. “I don’t think prices are going to start soaring, but I think there will be more turnover this year,” he says.

Smith is basing this on an increase in prestige sales at the end of 2012.

“Also sentiment,” he says. “Buyers are certainly of the opinion that the market has bottomed, and they’re prepared to move forward as long as it’s the right house and it’s realistically priced.”

Smith says he doesn’t have a huge amount of new listings yet, though the ones he has are “priced right”, including ?a three-level house with pool and Chinamans Beach views at 9 Warringah Road, Mosman (see right), set for February 28 auction with hopes of more than $6 million.

And in the inner west, a ? director of Cobden and Hayson, Danny Cobden, says a higher level of confidence in the second half of 2012 resulted in a “reasonable volume of sales in that premium sector . . . a couple in the $2 million zone”.

McGrath Balmain’s Mark Bovis sold a Louisa Road, Birchgrove, house for more than $5.5 million in November. He had four groups fighting over it, one offshore. “I think if we were selling that a year ago we would have struggled to get more than $5 million,” Bovis says?.

The senior economist at the Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors, Dr Andrew Wilson, is also enthusiastic about the prestige market’s prospects – particularly areas such as the northern beaches. “With the price drops, they’re recognising this is a good time to buy,” ? Wilson says.

The head of research at RP Data, Tim Lawless, says that values across Sydney’s most expensive suburbs are still about 8.5 per cent lower than when they peaked. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the more expensive end of the market that shows the largest capital gains [over the coming year],” ? Lawless says.

The sharemarket – up more than 16 per cent in six months – is one key indicator. “The improved wealth position should go a long way towards improving home buyer confidence, not to mention, of course, the better financial position that a higher share portfolio value brings,” ? Lawless says.

L J Hooker’s deputy chairman, L. Janusz Hooker, also sees this as important. “Properties in the $2 million to $5 million market have been moving comfortably since November,” he says.

“In some suburbs, prices have come back 20 per cent from three years ago but it has been accepted and buyers are now making a commitment.”

John McGrath says the major sharemarket indexes are starting to suggest the professional markets see a recovery under way. “And once the green light appears, which I anticipate will be as we hit 5000 on the Australian Stock Exchange, the money will start to pour back into property,” he says.

“Most buyers took the opportunity over the last few nervous years to de-leverage or pay down their loan balance, so many are in good shape when it comes to debt.”

McGrath anticipates prestige price rises by the end of the year. “We have already seen an increase in buyer inquiry between $2 million and $5 million in the last quarter?,” he says.

The chairman of Ray White Real Estate, Brian White, says the best suburbs for growth will be “those that have been marked down in recent times”.

“The eastern suburbs in particular will be strong, with Woollahra a good example,” ?White adds.

AMP’s chief economist, Shane Oliver, agrees that the strong sharemarket gains are a sign that a recovery is on the way. “The prestige property market in Sydney is likely to pick up this year, but it will probably lag the improvement at the lower end of the market and an upswing may not become really evident ?[until] later in the year or 2014.” ?